Hi-Fi Corner: Parrot Zik 3 debut in Europe with wireless charging, Apple watch control

By Ryan Waniata September 13, 2015

parrot zik 3 headphones announced at ifa 2015

Parrot may be best known for filling the skies with drones, but the company has proven to have an impressive aptitude for transferring those skills into the wireless headphone world. The Parrot Zik, and Zik 2 wireless noise cancelling headphones were both among the most advanced headphones on the block in their successive debuts, and today at IFA 2015 in Berlin, the company showed us the next evolution: Say hello to the highly-advanced Parrot Zik 3.

The new Zik 3 are a gorgeous pair of cans from the inside out. The exterior is cloaked in leather stitched in different available designs, including a diamond stitch pattern and a crocodile-style texture that’s pretty striking. The cans will also come in several different colors at launch — including classic black, emerald green, ivory, brown, and a brash tone of candy-apple red — along with some extra padding on the band for added comfort. But as you might guess, it’s what’s under the hood that makes these headphones really stand out.

Related Videos

Parrot has added some seriously state-of-the-art new features, not the least of which is wireless charging via a specialized stand, claimed to offer an impressive 18 hours of runtime on just a two-hour charge. Naturally, the Zik 3 offer NFC touch pairing for Bluetooth with compatible devices, and advanced active noise cancelling that can run with full isolation, or be switched into “Street Mode” to let in some of the ambient sound around you for the sake of safety.

Like the Zik 3’s predecessor, noise cancellation and EQ can be adjusted with a dedicated app, which also works with the Apple Watch and Android Wear. Through an advanced algorithm, the cans even alter how you hear your own voice to make you sound more natural (to yourself) during phone calls.

Commands are embedded into the earpiece for an elegant solution to controlling pause/play, volume, etc. with just the swipe of a finger, and the headphones also offer so-called “head detection,” pausing your music stream when you take them off. In addition, though the cans are designed to be used wirelessly, the micro-USB charging port doubles as an input to source music digitally from a wired source through an on-board DAC.

Pricing for the Zik 3 is expected to be around $400, and the headphones should be available in the coming weeks.

This article originally appeared at The Manual’s “brother” site, DigitalTrends.com

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

The Manual | The Essential Guide for Men

Culture

The Evolution and History of the Home Stereo

Cassette Tape

With well over a century in the making, the home stereo has brought tantalizing airwaves into households for everyone to enjoy while sitting on the couch, providing ambiance to an otherwise mundane gathering, and even fueling spontaneous dance parties. Certainly with technological advances the music quality has dramatically increased along with accessibility and the design of home stereos. But the radio, CD, cassette, and Bluetooth sorcery wouldn’t have come to be without the evolution of the record player.
Record Player

Turn the dial back to 1877 to when Thomas Edison invented the phonograph. It was more like a recorder than a player, but it did have playback capabilities. The sound was recorded on a tinfoil sheet wrapped around a cylinder that could eventually be played back through a horn-shaped speaker, similar to how a player piano ghostly plays the keys. In 1895 the phonograph was updated to play sound from flat discs that we now call vinyl, and the design took close shape to the modern record player. This was the point in history when records became a necessity for sound and leisure listening. The popularity of the record player grew right along with music culture, booming in the ‘20s, spinning through the blues, and eventually falling into the hands of the ‘80s/’90s DJs and their manipulative powers. And now in 2019, the record player and/or turntable is finding its way back into homes across the globe with artists choosing to release new music on vinyl, audiophiles claiming the purest sounds come from the grooved discs, and the revolution of hipsters deciding the record player was cool -- again.
Radio

Culture

The Best Wireless Charging Pads and Stands, No Strings Attached

best wireless charging pads on amazon

Juicing up our gadgets has been a persistent first-world problem since portable electronics first became a thing. We thankfully no longer have to mess around with expensive AA batteries to keep our GameBoys running, yet we’re still finding newer, faster, and more efficient ways to keep our tech chugging along – and mobile charging technology, in particular, is undergoing something of a quiet revolution at the moment.

The innovation behind this upheaval is wireless charging, a technology that has been more than a decade in the making but has only recently exploded onto the scene. Qi inductive charging, now the market-dominant standard for wireless charging, lets users with any capable mobile devices (available from Apple, Samsung, Google, LG, and other flagship brands) juice up any Qi-compatible smartphone by simply placing it on a charging pad or stand. Unseen internal coils then work their magic, transferring energy from the charger to the device’s internal battery.

Culture

Ditch the Cords with Shure’s New Noise-Isolating Wireless Earbuds

wireless earbuds

Wireless headphones are the latest must-have accessory in the world of sound. AirPods, Apple’s wireless earbuds, have polarized users since their introduction last year. However, they have also inspired competition on the wireless headphone market, and Shure is the latest brand to get in on the game.

Shure is well-known for its top-notch audio technology — microphones and mixers, as well as sound, conference, and monitoring systems — but the Illinois-based company recently introduced two pairs of Bluetooth headphones: the Wireless SE112 and the Wireless SE215, cordless versions of Shure's highly regarded series of SE Sound Isolating Earphones.